212 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



of pelisses; but that of the older animal has little value, and is used, like that 

 of the polar bear, as a rug or a foot-cloth in sledges. 



The lynx is highly prized for its very thick, soft, rust-colored winter dress, 

 striped with darker brown. It attains the size of the wolf, and is distinguished 

 from all other members of the cat tribe, by the pencils of long black hair which 

 tip its erect and pointed ears. It loves to lie in ambush for the passing rem- 

 deer or elk, on some thick branch at a considerable distance from the ground. 

 With one prodigious bound it leaps upon the back of its victim, strikes its tal= 

 ons into its flesh, and opens with its sharp teeth the arteries of its neck. 



Though singly of but little value, as a thousand of its skins are worth no 

 more than one sea-otter, the squirrel plays in reality a far more important part 

 in the Siberian fur-trade than any of the before-mentioned animals, as the total 

 value of the gray peltry which it furnishes to trade is at least seven times 

 greater than that of the sable. Four millions of gray squirrel skins are, on an 

 average, annually exported to China, from two to three millions to Europe, 

 and the home consumption of the Russian Empire is beyond all doubt still 

 more considerable, as it is the fur most commonly used by the middle classes. 

 The European squirrels are of inferior value, as the hair of their winter dress 

 is still a mixture of red and gray ; in the territory of the Petschora, the gray 

 first becomes predominant, and increases in beauty on advancing towards the 

 east. The squirrels are caught in snares or traps, or shot with blunted arrows. 

 Among the fur-bearing animals of Siberia, we have further to notice the vary- 

 ing hare, whose winter dress is entirely white, except the tips of the ears, 

 which are black ; the Baikal hare ; the ground-squirrel, whose fur has fine 

 longitudinal dark-brown stripes, alternating with four light-yellow ones ; and 

 the suslik, a species of marmot, whose brown fur, with white spots and stripes, 

 fetches a high price in China. It occurs over all Siberia as far as Kamchatka. 

 Its burrows are frequently nine feet deep ; this, however, does not prevent its 

 being dug out by the hunters, who likewise entrap it in spring when it awakes 

 from its winter sleej^. 



Summing together the total amount of the Russian fur-trade. Von Baer es- 

 timates the value of the skins annually brought to the market by the Russian 

 American Fur Company at half a milhon of silver roubles, the produce of Eu- 

 ropean Russia at a million and a half, and that of Siberia at three millions. As 

 agriculture decreases on advancing to the north, the chase of the fur-bearing 

 animals increases in importance. Thus, in the most northern governments of 

 European Russia — Wjatka, Wologda, Olonez, and Archangel — it is one of the 

 chief occupations of the inhabitants. In Olonez about four hundred bears are 

 killed every year, and the immense forests of Wologda furnish from one hun- 

 dred to two hundred black foxes, three hundred bears, and three millions of 

 squirrels. 



Although the sable and the sea-otter are not so numerous as in former times, 

 yet, upon the whole, the Russian fur-trade is in a very flourishing condition ; 

 nor is there any fear of its decreasing, as the less valuable skins — such as those 

 of the squirrels and hares, wliich from their numbers weigh most heavily in 

 the balance of trade — are furnished by rodents, which multiply very rapidly, 



